Riverside County
Biographies
ROSCOE J. JOHNSON
For seven years Roscoe J. Johnson has been postmaster of
Corona, an office for which he has exceptional qualifications by reason of the
fact that his life has been devoted to this department of governmental service.
He was born in Peoria, Illinois, May 7, 1881, and is a son of
A. L. and Eva (Garthwaite) Johnson, the
former also a native of that city, while the latter was born in Jersey City,
New Jersey. A carpenter by trade, A. L. Johnson was closely
identified with building operations in Peoria for a number of years and then
went to Ontario, California, where he now resides. Mrs. Johnson passed
away in 1930.
Roscoe J. Johnson acquired his education in the Sunflower
state, pursuing his advanced studies in the Kansas State College, from which he
received the Bachelor of Science degree in 1904, and following his graduation
became a clerk in the post office at Newton, Kansas, where he remained for ten
years. Afterward he spent three years in the post office at Kansas City,
Missouri, and at the end of that time was transferred to Long Beach,
California, where he was a postal employe for a
similar period. In 1922 he came to Corona as assistant postmaster and on
December 21, 1925, received from President Coolidge the appointment
of postmaster. Reappointed by President Hoover, Mr. Johnson has greatly
improved the postal service here and is considered one of the best postmasters
Corona has ever had.
In 1911, at Burlingame, Kansas, Mr. Johnson married
Miss Mary Droege, a daughter of William Droege, and three children were born to them; Marvin, now a
youth of eighteen years; Harold, who is fourteen; and Theda
Mae, eight years of age.
There is an interesting military chapter in the life
record of Mr. Johnson, who was a member of the Kansas National Guard for ten
years, advancing to the rank of first lieutenant. He is serving on the official
board of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has been secretary of the Lions
Club of Corona for six years. In Masonry his affiliations are with Temescal Lodge, No. 314,
F. & A. M.; Riverside Chapter, No. 67,
R. A. M., of which he is Past High Priest; and Pomona Council,
No. 21, R. & S. M. Earnest, purposeful and
conscientious, he has fulfilled life’s duties and obligations to the best of
his ability and stands deservedly high in the esteem of his fellow-men.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
04 May 2012.
Source: California
of the South Vol. II, by John Steven McGroarty, Pages
379-380, Clarke Publ., Chicago, Los Angeles, Indianapolis.
1933.
© 2012 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S RIVERSIDE BIOGRAPHIES